Having had lunch at his house at his invitation, I can vouch that he likes lots of people. He was not only very nice to me, he did me kind favors.
The test of whether someone is a good person is not that he's kind to his friends.
Harlan called a very smart and rising star in the SF field an NWA. Among other things.
I still think he's one of the great short-story writers of our time. But having been to Birmingham or befriending Octavia Butler doesn't give you a pass on calling someone the N word and not apologizing for it. And you don't get feminist cred for supporting the ERA (thirty years ago) if you are seen groping women in public.
The test of whether someone is a good person is not that he's kind to his friends.
I didn't say he was a "good person." I said he was capable of liking people. That may be a low standard but that's all I said.
Yeah, I'm sorry, that was a bit stronger than I needed to be.
Yeah, I'm sorry, that was a bit stronger than I needed to be.
That's fine. I recognize the larger issues swirling around right now between media fans and an older generation of science fiction writers. It does feel a bit like people are talking past each other anymore and there's no common ground for discussion.
When Harlan Ellison is the worst racist in America we'll be living in a freakin' paradise.
When Harlan Ellison is the worst racist in America we'll be living in a freakin' paradise
Trudat. He at least isn't insisting on seeing the President's birth certificate.
Anyone else read and enjoyed Stephen Fry's 'Making History'? On one level it's a light read, but I ended up talking quite deep ethics with The Girl afterwards. The quantum physics angle, although not using real science much (I don't think), is also both fun to consider and potentially mind-screwy. Good book.
OMG I love that XKCD. So true. If it weren't, Hilzoy from ObWi would be running the country by now.
Seska, I read it about 3 years ago, but just did a brush-up on wikipedia. Were you debating the
stop Hitler from being born
issue?
DebetEsse: Not exactly. I was interested in whether The Girl would choose to live in a world where homosexuality was outlawed* or one where the Holocaust had happened. Given that the former would affect us directly, but probably mean there was/would have been a lot less suffering in the world. Then we got talking about why she preferred studying meta-ethics rather than straightforward ethics (she was a philosophy major), on account of how these concepts are pretty much impossible to explore.
I was more taken with the the more personal storyline, though - the idea of 'the one' being stuck in another quantum universe from you. I don't believe in the modern romanticised concept of 'the one', but that storyline summed up the potential total loneliness of believing in destiny, for me. I thought that was fascinating.
*And then we got talking about how it is in some societies, and how lucky we are to live when and where we do.
